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18—47372-8 «PO 



PRINTET) AT THE PUESS & TIHES OFFICE , NASHVIIXE. 



Browiilow Republicanism vs. Etlieridge Conservatism. 



ETHERIDGE'S RECORD EXPOSED. 



HE VOTES NO MORE MEN OR MONEY TO PUT DOWN THE REBELLION! 



Delivered at the State House, June Uh, 1867. 



By colonel W. K BILBO. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: 

It peeras that in the picture of iiation- 
ftl felicity which my soul had touched 
briglitest, I had too" fondly hoped that 
ere this from the dome of our Capitol 
would float the bannered insio;nia of an 
universal enfranchisen'ent — that like 
a beautiful iris of divine promise, it 
would have spanned with its heavenly 
hues our national firmament> embracing 
beneath its s:or;>:eous arch the child of 
every race and the reconciled citizens 
of every State — that tliestar of our no- 
ble State would have been the lirst in 
the Federal constellation, to rise in 
cloudless majesty over a land dedicated 
to the genius of an universal emancipa- 
tion — that bastard freedom would never 
again unfurl her fustian flag over a Re- 
public ot freemen. But alas! the 
smouldering fires of rebellion, relvindled 
in spirit and exasperated, have dissolv- 
ed this frost-work vision of bliss. 

O, that our beguiled citizens had not 
listened to the syren voice of the White 
House at Washington, but had accepted 
with true allegiance the inexorable 
logic of events. If so, even now the\'' 
■would enjoy the inestimable birth-right 
privileges of American freemen — the se- 
lection of their own officers and the 
adoption of their own laws — would be- 
hold the disfranchised South redeemed, 
regenerated and disenthralled. 

What lover of his country can con- 
template the civil disfranchisement or 
enslavement of millions of his coun- 
trymen, white or black, for any length 
of time, without the most nppalling 
apprehensions? Who can advocate a 
system, for any length of time, that will 
spread its moral venom through every 
artery of the nation, and canker the very 
heart of the Republic — that extinguishes 
the imaiortal a-ipiratious of the soul, by 
closing every avenue of laudable ambi- 
tion — that represses all generous emu- 
lation of ancestral fame— that eternizes 
or immortalizes persecution — that 
invades and profanes the consecrated 
temple of female dignity, honor and 
chastity- that paralyzes the energies, and 



undermines the resources of the gov- 
ernment^that administers to the ve- 
nality of party, by making the hon- 
ors and emoluments of ofilce, the wages 
ot a relentless intolerance. Cannot 
loyalty be restored only bj^ civil disa- 
bility"? Cannot fraternal alfection be 
conciliated but by ignominious penal- 
ties, or constitutional liberty be main- 
tained but by individual degradation? 

Will civil disfranchisement degrade 
the poor African to the level of a brute, 
and yet elevate the Anglo-American to 
the altitude of an angel! Never; no, 
never, can civil liberty and human dig- 
nity be perpetuated by crawling amid 
purlieus of civil disfranchisement and. 
personal degradation. Their sacred 
sanctuary is throned in the highest 
heavenson Alpine heights.andcan alone 
be soared to by an eagle's pinion, or 
gazed at by his unflinching eye. In 
heaven's name, therefore, let us at once 
consume the last relic ot tlie past; its 
passions, prejudices and tierce animos- 
ities. Let us erase from our statute 
books, and obliterate from the archives 
of the nation every trace of tliose twin 
words of national dishonor and heart- 
rending mortitication— i?e6eZand Freed- 
men, and in their unhallowed space, let 
there beam refulgent in living light, 
that other word so dear to every patriot 
heart: that word which shall be the 
synonym of an enlightened freedom ; 
of a Christian philanthrophy; of an uni- 
versal emancipation— I mean an Ameri- 
can citizen. But this consummation, so 
devoutly desired by myself and every 
true Republican, is and has been alone 
thwarted by the malevolence and pol- 
icy of the so-called Conservative party. 

Republicans, you are the incarnation 
of the age — the sacred depositaries of 
those heaven-born truths tliat will lib- 
erate and ennoble the race, change the 
face of the globe, and reconcile man to 
his fellow liian and to his God. Let not 
the obstinacy of man, let not aspersion 
or prejudice" retard you in your career 
of imperishable glory. Remember that 
forms of government are upon parch- 






ment drawn, are inanimate, motionless 
and unproofressive — made for the peo- 
ple, and not the people for them. 'Tis 
the people who are instinctive -with life 
and procuress. Scrolls and parchments 
may be eonsnmed, forms ot *?overnment 
may be by a breath nnmade, as a breath 
hath made them, but the people are im- 
mortal — they (ire. the voluminovs symbol of 
eternity. Eemember the Almighty ha"s 
said that He will establish His kingdom 
and His will on earth, as they are in 
heaven; and what is this will, what this 
Ivingdom amonfy the nations?— jwsijce, 
equality and fraternity ! Here, Eepubli 
cans, are our oriflambs of freedom, our 
sliibboleths of party. I^et us not hesi- 
tate to conform our institntions and 
forms of government to these immortal 
ideas that have swept throno'h all ages 
and nations, and whose reformatory 
breath we are now feeling. If we do, 
the tempest will sweep away our Babel 
monuments, or the ocean bi'eak over our 
fragile mounds. 

WHAT REFORM IS NECESSARY. 

At once strike from the freedmen 
every manacle of civil inequality. liCt 
the foot of no man living, I care not in 
what zone born, tread the soil of Amer- 
ica, and feel not his soul rise kindling 
VvMthin him — swelling to the full pro- 
portions of the dignity and majesty of 
American freedom. But it is said that 
the Ireedman is incompetent to exercise 
the prerogatives of citizenship, and 
therefore he ought to undergo an edu- 
cational process of preparation. What! 
remand him back to siavery ? For two 
centuries oppression left him with scarce 
an aspiration of the human soul, in agon- 
ized hopelessness. Is ignorance a school 
for intelligence, darkness for light, or 
slavery for freedom ? There is but one 
cure for the evil that newly acquired lib- 
erty produces, and that cure is freedom. 
When a prisoner leaves his cell, he can- 
not bear the light of day; he is unable 
to discriminate colors" or recognize 
faces; but the remedy is not to re- 
mand him to prison, but to accustom 
him to the rays of the sun. The blaze 
of truth and liberty may at first dazzle 
and bewilder those who have become 
blind in the prison-house of bondage; 
but let them gaze on, they will soon be 
able to bear it. Many politicians have 
said that it was a self-evident truth, 
that no people ought to be free that 
were not fit to properly appreciate and 
use their freedom. This maxim is wor- 
thy the fool in the old story, who said 
that no man ought to go into the water 
till he had learned how to swim. If 
?iien must wait for liberty till they be- 
come wise and good in slavery, they 
would wait forever. If one should post- 
pone repentance till he became pure in 
iniquity, he would never feel or see a 
reconciled God. So spoke Macau lay. 

Do the freedman's local and social 
qualifications disqualify him for free- 
dom ? He never had a home, a country, 
a language, a religion or God but ours, 
and he has not the most distant concep- 
tion of other institutions, laws or gov- 
ernment; he lias no relatives, friends ot 
acquaintances besides those who dwell 
among us. All he is or can hope to be, 
is American. Therefore, he commences 
his career of citizenship with some, ad- 



vantages far superior to those of the 
foreigner. He has made and will ever 
make a more submissive citizen than 
the Anglo-Saxon, because by nature he 
is less ambitious, less restless, less ava- 
ricious or revolutionary. 

Let us at once remove every plea of 
injustice; let us concede Av'here it i» 
hopeless to resist; let us not again re- 
pulse the sibylline prophetess, for she 
may increase in her extortion for our 
future safety and happiness. 

THE FANATICAL TENDENCIES OF THE BAY. 

Fellow citizens, once more let me 
conjure you to elevate yourselves to 
that sublime self-denial by which, unin- 
fluenced by passion or prejudice, you 
can calmly contemplate, in the naked 
solitude of their own merit and impor- 
tance, the great questions that were in- 
volved in, and have grown out of our 
recent rebellion. They nearly and dear- 
ly pertain to our present and future na- 
tional telieity and perpetuity. Fanati- 
cism upon anj^ subject or in any age 
should be avoided and detested. ''It 
has no head, and therefore can not think 
or reason ; it has no heart, and therefore 
cannot feel t When it moves, it does 
so only in wrath; when it pauses, it is 
only amid ruin; its prayers are curses; 
Its communion death; its vengence is 
eternity ; its decalogue is written in the 
blood of its victims ; and if it stoops for a 
moment in its infernal tiigbt it is upon 
some kindred rock to whet its vulture 
fang for keener rapine, and replume its 
wing for a more sanguinary desolation.'' 
From this grave-stalled and infernal 
vampire we now appeal to the practical 
good sense, the humane and philan- 
thropic sentiments and feelings of a 
people, heretofore most distinguished 
for every attribute of character that 
dignified and ennobled hnman nature. 

It is true, "that the zeal requisite for 
great revolutions, whether in Church or 
State, is rarely attended by charity for a 
difference ot opinion. Those who are 
willing to hazard life, liberty or prop- 
erty, or all these, for their own doctrines, 
attach such value to them as to make 
them very impatient of opposition trom 
others. The martyr tor conscience 
sake can not comprehend the necessity 
of leniency to those who denounce 
those truths for which he is prepared 
to sacrifice his own life. If he set so 
little value on his own life, is it reason- 
able he should set more on that of oth- 
ers?" Hence the various political and 
religious persecutions of the world. 
When merc3^ and charity are combined 
with a divine love of principles, and an 
intense and sublime enthusiasm for hu- 
manity, you have the most splendid 
types of our race — a Fenelon of France 
--a Thomas Moore of England— a Radi- 
cal Republican of the United States. 

WHAT IS TREASON AND ITS rUNISHMENT ? 

The right of resistance to the contin- 
ued usurpations of arbitrary power is 
inherent in man. Resort should never 
be had to the violence of revolution to 
overthrow an existing government un- 
til every rational, peaceful and legal ex- 
pedient had been exhausted to redress 
grievances, remove evils, or arrest usur- 
pations, and prevent their future recur- 
rence. Every true patriot will fivst ask 



and solve these questions before he pro- 
ceeds to an armed resistance against his 
government. Can life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness, the great ends of 
all just and^wise governments, be se- 
cured to the citizen otherwise? And 
•will the national good, sought and at- 
tained, compensate tor the ills to be en- 
dured, and the perils to be hazarded? 

"Had-vve not better bear the ills we have 
Thau fly to tlwse we know not of." 

It can never be rationally admitted as 
a principle of any form of government 
that it concedes to one or more citizens 
the right to destroy its existence. No 
State will authorize its own destruction. 
Hence all governments are organised 
upon the presumption of immortality; 
that they will endure to the end of 
time, and have therefore resisted every 
attempt to destroy their existence with 
all the power or force they possessed or 
could comniand. 

Bevolvtion is successful rebellion, and 
the revohitionar}^ hero is a victorious 
rebel, with the laurel icr&cith encircling 
his brow. A i-ebel is an unsuccessful 
revolutionist, with treason branded up- 
on his brow, traitor flaming upon his 
back, and the executioner stalking at 
his heels. Hence rebellion is treason to 
one's country or government, and in all 
ages, and among all people, it has been 
regarded as the most heinous and aggra- 
vated of all human crimes.and its penalty 
has invariably been death. Treason is 
the renunciation of all allegiance to 
one's country, as well as all the rights 
of citizenship. A traitor's attitude to- 
ward his own government is pricisely 
that of a pirate to all governments, one 
of defiant and internecine hostility. 

Treason as defined by the Constitu- 
tion of the United States is "levying 
war against the United States, or ad- 
hering to their enemies, giving them 
aid and comfoit."' The jninishriient is 
death; "but no attainder of treason shall 
work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, 
except during the life of the person at- 
tainted." All citizens that did engage 
directly or indirectly in the recent re- 
bellion, were gui'ty of levying war 
against the United States, and therefore 
are guilty of treason, and did forfeit 
their lives and their property during 
life. But our glorious government, 
with a magnanimity that defied compar- 
ison— witli a clemency that comported 
with the enlightened Christian spirit of 
the age, neither hung any of its citi- 
zens or confiscated their property, ex- 
cept In some few instances. Happj'', 
proud America I Your power and gran- 
deur justified you in exercising the 
inerciiul attributes of a benignant Prov- 
idence, rather than the vindictive and 
retributive justice of a justly offended 
majesty. 

In the magnitude of this crime, there 
is a vast difference between the igno- 
rant, unthinking, unambitious, confid- 
ing and deluded instruments, who ap- 
plied the torch, and the cunning, daring, 
ambitious and seditious instijjators, 
who for years, deliberately devised and 
matured "the damnable plot. Tlie mass 
of the people instinctively love their 
country, and are obedient to its laws — 
their souls are never fired with a des- 



perate thirst tor glory; nor are their 
imaginations dazzled with the splendor 
of stars and diadems or gorgeous in- 
signia of royalty and aristocracy— they 
aspire not to be the Crom wells, (^ati- 
lines or Cv'esars of revolutions. They 
have been seduced from a patriotic de- 
votion to their country — they have been 
entrapped and confounded by the toils 
which have been for a series of years 
deliberately spread for them, by the 
master genius of the plotters of this ter- 
rible drama of treason and crime. 
These latter are the men whose chas- 
tisements should render treason odious 
— who should be compelled during their 
existence "to take back seats" in the ad- 
ministration of the affairs of that gov- 
ernment, whose maternal bosom they 
pierced with murderous steel, and with 
whose heart's blood they for four years 
saturated their garments. If not^ our 
government will secure impunity to 
treason, and exemption to crime. It; 
will reverse thejudgmei;t of the world, 
that mercy to some criminals is treason 
to the public, and deem the noblest vin- 
dication of its offended law to consign 
such men to the terrible punishment of 
its mercy. 

DISFRANCHISEMENT. 

Disfranchisement is the deprivation of 
a, free citizen of his rights and privileges 
as such. But the constitution declares 
tha*, he who levies war against the 
United States, or who aids and abets 
those who do; or who gives aid and 
comfort to such, is a traitor who re- 
nounces and forfeits all the riijhts of a 
citizen, and may be punished with death, 
and a confiscation of his propert}^ This 
no one of any intelligence will dispute. 
Has he who has levied war against the 
government any subsequent right to 
vote in anj' election, or to hold any office 
of profit and honor? No; for he for- 
feited all these rights with that of his 
life; and if he is permitted to exercise 
these, or any other, whether of life, lib- 
erty or property, he does so through the 
grace and mercy of his government. 

How unblushing the impudence, how 
impious the audacity, therefore, of those 
who, having been traitors or rebels, have 
clamored, and are still clamoring tor the 
exercise of the elective francliise in all 
elections, and their eligibility to all 
officesof government to which they may 
be elected — demanding these as their 
rights as citizens — instead of benignant 
favors to condemned treason, from a mag- 
nanimous government. Immediately 
after the cessation of hostilities, in ac- 
cordance with the premature policy of 
restoration adopted by the administra- 
tion, elections were held in thf ex-rebel 
States tor representatives in the Con- 
gress of the United States. Many gen- 
tlemen wdio held distinguished ofiices in 
the civil departments of the rebel gov- 
ernment — who were very prominent in 
inaugurating the rebellion — ^were can- 
didates, and were elected to seats in tlie 
Congress of the United States. What 
an anomalous spectacle did these men 
present. Before the smoke of battle had 
cleared from their vision, with their 
garments still saturated with fraternal 
blood, from a ruined, broken-hearted 
and betrayed constituenc}% they solic- 
ited otlicial position io that government, 



and seats of honor in that Congress up- 
on which a few months before they had 
invoked the venseance of Heaven — yes, 
seats beside those very men against 
whom, but yesterday, ttiey had poured 
decp-moLitlied curses, and for whom 
even tlion their hearts rankled with the 
most vindictive and unrelenting ani- 
nl0sit3^ 

But this astonishing spectacle of hu- 
mility and shame ends not liere. Behold 
these same men in Washington, tapping 
at the doors of the halls of Congress 
for admission; see them as tliey ap- 
proach the Chases, Sumners, Wades, 
Stevenses and Schencks — the Gorgon 
monsters, with whose accursed names 
they made, during the rebellion, "tierce 
battle, trebly thundering, swell the 
gale !" Do these sons of Southern hon- 
or, higli-born pride and chivalry, roar 
now like Nemean lions; do they thunder 
like an Olympian Jove! O. nol They 
gently pace those halls of State, ancl 
when they speak to these abused Repub- 
licans they cluck like gameless hens, or 
coo like innocent doves. Gentlemen, 
what has reft you so suddenly of the 
talon, fang and sting of treason ? What 
acid have you swallowed to neutralize 
your spirit of disloyalty and the ran- 
corous hatred with which your souls 
still agonize against these "cut-throats, 
knaves, assassins and monsters," as you 
once termed them? Why are you so 
importunate to occupy seats of honor 
^by their side, and companion with them 
'in the administration of the atfairs of 
'that government from whose noble 
.heart you have just plucked your en- 
'Vious steel ? Like ravenous harpies you 
vmust sate your voracity upon ?omeptib- 
tlic treasury — your rebel exchequer being 
i-exhausteci, you must now batten upon 
'the Fedi^ral. To what a depth of pitia- 
♦ble humilitj'- has your high-blown pride 
.Bunk^ -with what low-browed baseness 
do you waft perfume to power — all 
'this humility for the per diem of office. 

The reburf" of some of these Southern 
■Representatives from the halls of Con- 
gress was analagous to that of Catiline 
" from the Roman Senate after his treason 
had been fully exposed by Marcus 
'Cicero. He said: "Alas, the times! 
Alas, the public morals! How long, O 
•Catallne, will you abuse our patience? 
Art tliou nothing daunted bj' the avert- 
ed looks of ail here present? Do j^ou 
live to confront us here in council, to 
■take part in our deliberations? There 
■was tiiat virtue once in Rome when a 
•wicked citizen was held more execrable 
•than the deadliest foe. You sliall soon 
'be made aware thtit we are even more 
active in providing for the preservation 
of the State than you in plotting its de- 
struction." Even the delicate forbear- 
ance of President Johnson was so shock- 
-ed attheir audacity that he advised Con- 
gress "to kick these gentlemen from 
their halls, and flll their places with 
■loyal men." 

Treason against the Federal Govern- 
■ment was also treason against the State 
'Of Tennessee, and the audacious claims 
of disloyal men to the exercise of the 
elective fianchise and to hold <)fflce 
within this State, as rights which they 
have been deprived of «s citizeits, is as ab- 
surd and unpardonable as in the former 



case of the Federal Government. They 
have no rights as ci<(^e?is in the State 
except such as the supreme power in 
the Federal and State Governments may 
concede them as boons of mercy — none 
others whatever. • 

I know there were honorable excep- 
tions in the above class of politicians, 
who gracefully yielded to the impor- 
tunate solicitations of their friends, and 
although identitied with the rebellion, 
sincerely believe by tlieir election tliey 
could achieve some good, under the cir- 
cumstances, for their afflicted country. 
But still this was a mistaken policy. 
Their re-appearance so soon in oilice ir- 
ritated and did not conciliate the North- 
ern mind. 

OTHER CAUSES OF THE PRESENT CIVIL 
DISABILITIES OF THE SOUTH. 

I am aware that in all republican 
governments analogous to ours, there 
will ever be a flock of political ravens 
hovering about the public treasury ever 
crying for daily food, too proud or indo- 
lent to obtain an honorable mainten- 
ance by the sweat of their brow. These 
buzzing, babbling and shallovv-pated 
demagogues can only subsist in the pu- 
trid pools of political venality and cor- 
ruption. In the piping times of peace 
they discourse sweeter music than ^Eo- 
li:iH harps or Thracian lutes, and in the 
storms of revolution they roar louder 
than the sullen tempest's wing. But 
now, deprived of the glittering pelf of 
office by their participation in the re- 
cent rebellion, or tlieir sympathy with 
it since it ceased, they resort to every 
means of inflaming the unsubdued ani- 
mosity of the South towards the victo- 
rious North and the Federal Govern- 
ment. 

Again, there is another class of fo- 
menters of public discord. Before the 
rebellion thei^ were going to spill the 
last drop of their precious blood, or 
sacritlce their last dollar for Southern 
independence. But when the clash of 
arms came, they very prudently, as most 
loyal men, sliiekled themselves behind 
the rusliing eagles of the republic, to 
conserve their lives and private fortunes. 
They now call themselves Conservatives. 
These pie-bald political hyi>ocrites, 
lily-livered patriots, carry always two 
flags behind and two before them, which 
they are pi'epared, on all occasions, to 
flout in the face of ex-rebels or Repub- 
licans, as they are accosted from tlie 
rear or from the front. From their 
hermaphroditic character they are pe- 
culiarly eligible to all oflices of honor, 
especially' those of profit. These gen- 
tlemen, to prove tlieir intense sympath}"- 
for disfranchised ex-rebels in public 
places, pummel tiievery air with horrid 
imprecations against Northern fanati- 
cism. Congressional desjiotism and 
Southern Republicans. 1 have intinitelj'' 
more respect tor the professed loyalty 
of tiiat avalanche of cavalry, N. B.For- 
rest, or that thunderbolt of infantry, 
Frank Cheatham, than I have for the 
profession of a million of such men. 

Again, there is another class of incen- 
diary disturbers of the public peace. 
They were the snow-fingered, kid- 
gloved and violet-perfumed gentry of 
the South, who, like Job's illustrious 



war horse, though their necks were 
clothed ill thuiiticr. smittVil battle from 
afar. They lilled witii ol)trusive dis- 
tinction lucrative ami speculative posi- 
tions in the ordnance, quartermaster's 
and commissary departments; or own- 
ing twenttj negroes, with chivalric grace, 
exempted themselves from the verj: 
sligiitest participation in '"the ricli 
man's war, but poor man's tight;" or 
possessing peculiar blandishaients of 
address or rare accomplishments of 
horsemanship, glittered like garish stars 
in the staffs of generals. Many of this 
class, to commend themselves to public 
notoriety and damn to immortality their 
Quixotic achievements upon carnage- 
covered ftelds, on the public liighways, 
ia ale saloons, and through the daily 
press, swelled the volume of abuse 
against Republicans and the Federal 
Government and Southern loyal men. 

Again, there is still another class of 
moi"e inveterate, but not less malignant 
liaters of the Northern people and the '■ 
Federal Union. The men who consti- 
tute this class are the most dignified, 
intelligent and aristocratic of Southern 
society. They form the very nobility 
of Southern Democracy — thej^ are the 
founders and leaders of the State 
Rights Democratic party. This aristoc- 
racy was based on vast estates of lands 
and negroes, and believed that cotton, 
rice, sugar and tobacco constituted the 
attributes of omnipotence. The plan of 
this party was (and they succeeded in 
it) to consolidate the power of the 
Southern slave States into an indivisi- 
ble unit, so that tliey could hurl it with 
crushing force against the enemies of 
the peculiar institution. Fools to have 
vainly imagined that they could have 
crystalized ti\e power «f "the Southern 
States to perpetuate tor ages the institu- 
tion of human slavery, without array- 
ing against it the equally united anti- 
slavery ISlorth and the Christian civil- 
ized world. When in the blindness of 
their infatuation, they erected in the 
despotic Confederacy of the South a 
national temple to this idolatrous divin- 
it}', it was then that an indignant Heav- 
en smote with its lightning and shivered 
to atoms this impious government, its 
temple and its God. 

This revolutionary State Rights Dem- 
ocratic party never attained the digni- 
fied proportions of respectability in 
Tennessee, till Isham G. Harris succeed- 
ed to its Gubernatorial chair. Under 
his pernicious auspices, the old Jackson 
Democracy became debauched in this 
as it had been in other Southern States; 
and it was almost transformed into this 
Democratic aristocracy of Mississippi 
and South Carolina, when rebellion, like 
a fiery simoom, burst from the confines 
of South Carolina, and spread north- 
ward and westward its consuming 
blasts. It was from this magazine of 
Democracy that every missile of rebel- 
lion has been drawn for the last twenty 
years. But the rebellion having crushed 
out this party with its Virginia and 
Kentucky secession resolutions, and its 
heart's blood — African slavery — it has 
dropped its haughty plume and cos- 
tume, and now presents its Protean de- 
formity in the piteous haberdashery of 
Conservatism. It has merely skulked 



hehind this artful drapery of ignomin- 
ious imposition, to change its assault 
from lorce to fraud— from the battery 
to the mine. 

Old Line Whigs — you whose political 
faith was always right; Old Line Jack- 
son Democrats— you whose former love 
for the Union was not wrong — in Heav- 
en's name, I beseech you, no longer per- 
niic yourselves to be made the credu- 
lous dupes of an imposture so gross, so 
rank and so impious. 

KX-REBEL OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS. 

Gentlemen, since you sheathed your 
swords, and folded your banners, which 
waved defiance amid the sulphurous 
smoke and volleyed thunder of so many 
battle-fields, you have, I believe, with, 
perhaps few distingmshed exceptions, 
observed with inviolable integrity your 
plighted honor. You have not been the 
promoters of public discord or section- 
al strife, or the instigators of murder- 
ous riots or ^)rivate assassinations, but 
almost invariably demeaned yourselves 
with a dignified self-respect — with an 
unobtrusive obedience to the laws of 
the country — with a courteous civility 
to the heroic Federal soldiery, which 
cowards may not appreciate — yet which 
brave tnen ever evince to the brave. 
No, not yet does 

Base dishonor blur your names. 

Gentlemen, the noblest expiation 
which you can make for the past to 
your magnanimous country, would be 
actively to assist all good citizens to 
maintain the supremacy of the law, 
and to restore as speedily as possible 
the reconciled relations and kinder feel- 
ings of our fellow-citizens. Do not for- 
get that your country can truthfully 
say to you. 

The power I have over you is to spare you. 
The malice towanl 3'on, t.o fov^'ive you; live, 
TUerelor^-, and dt-al with others as nobly. 

Follow the examples of .Johnston and 
Withers, of Taylor and Maney, of Cheat- 
ham and Forrest, whose fortunes you fol- 
lowed in the midst of many battles. 
Read the strong and manly letter of 
Gen. Lontrstreet, one of your ablest and 
best chieftains, and resolve with him, 
that you will "work in any harness that 
promises relief to our distressed people 
and harmony to the nation." Disregard 
the base appeals to prejudice with which 
so many of the presses of the South 
abound — in none of which can you find 
published these noble sentiments: 

Nkw Orleans, Juue 3, 186T. 
J. if Q. Parker, Ef<q : 

MyDeakSik: 'iour esteemed favor of the 
I5th ultimo w;is duly receivt-d 1 was much 
pleased to haN e the opportunity to hear Sena- 
lor Wilson, and whs agreeably surprised to 
meet s^u-h fairne-s and frank;ies- in a pol ticiaii 
whom I have I een t^iught to 'elieve is uncom- 
promisingly opposed to the white people of the 
South. 

I hiive maturely considered your suggestioa 
to "'wisely unite in efforts to restore Loui-^iana 
to her former position in the Union, through 
the p.irty now in I'ower." My I'tfer of the 6f.h 
ot A,>iil, to which you lef'-r, cleariy iiidirates a 
d sire for practical reconstruction and recon- 
ciliation Praciical men can surely iiistinguish 
bet\ve»m practical reconstruction and rei-ou- 
struction as an abstract question. I will en- 
deavor, howHver, will renewed ener-jy, to 
meet your wislies in the matter. The serious 
difllciily that I apprehend is the want of that 
wisdom which is necessary for the great work. 
I shall be happy to work ia any harness that 



promi-es reliefto our distressed people and 
iuvmoiiy to the nation. Ic matters not wlie'h- 
er T beai- th4 mantle ol' Mr. Davis or the nnantle 
of Mr. Sumner, so that I may help to bring- the 
glory ol' "pence und good will toAvard men." 

Is'iall set out by u^sllmin,^• a proposition that 
I hold to be self evident, viz: The in^'h^-st of 
human laws is the law that is established by ap- 
peal ta arms. 

The great princip'cfs that divided politicil 
partifS prior to the war were thor' ughly dis- 
C'si^ed by our wisest >tatpsmen. When argu- 
jnent was exhausted, resort was had to comftro- 
mise. Whi n compromise was unavailing, dis- 
cussion was renewed, and expedients were 
sought, but none could he fntind to suit the 
emerfrency. Appeal was iinally made to 
the sword, to determire which of the claims 
was the ti «e construction of const tulional laAV. 
Ttie sword has decided in favor of tlie North, 
and whiit they cla mtd a-: principles ceased to 
be principle^, and are beco"me law. The views 
tiat wr h'ld cease to be principles because they 
areo)iposed to law It is therefore our duy 
to ahaii' on ideas that »re ob.->o ete, and conlorm 
to the requirements of law. 

ThcMili'ary act. and a i endmeuts, are peace 
off rinns We should accept them as such, and 
place ourselves upon them as the starting point 
from which to meet future political i&siies as 
thcv rise. 

Ijik" other Southern men, I nat«iraily sought 
alliance with the Democatjc partv merelv be- 
cause it was opposed to tlie Kepubliean party. 
But as lar as lean .judge, the e is uoihiii< tan- 
gible about it, excel t the issues that. Avere stuk-' 
ed upon the war and there lo^t. Finding noth- 
ing to taiie hold ot except prejudice which 
cannot be worked into go d lor any one, it, is 
proper and right that I stjould seek some btaud- 
point from which good maybe done. 

If I aiipreciate the principles of the Demo- 
cratic party, its promiuent features oppose the 
eifrau<-,hisem(nt of the colored man, and deny 
theriijhtto legl-laie upon the sutject of suf- 
frage except by the States individually. The-e 
two leatiires have a tendeacy to exclude South- 
• rn men from th it party; for the cnlored man is 
already enlranchised here, and we cannot teek 
alliance with a pariy that would restrict his 
riahts. 'Ihe exclusive rightol the ■ tatt s to leg- 
islate upon suffrage will make the enf: ancbise- 
ment ot the blacks, whether for b?tterorfor 
worse a fixture among us. It appeais. there- 
fore, tViat those who cry loudesc against this 
neworilerof things as a public calamity are 
those whose princii les wouid fix it upon us 
without a remedy. Hence it becom< s us to in- 
sist that suffrage shoul'i be extended in all of 
the States, and fully tested. The people of the 
isorth should adoj t what they have fo ced upon 
us; and if it be proved to be a inistake, they 
should remove it^ by the remedy, under republi- 
can pri ciples. of uniform laws upLiii sufTrage. 

If every man in the country will a.eet the crisis 
with a proper appreci.tion oi' our condition, 
and come fairly up to his lesponsiliilities, on to- 
morrow the sun will smile upon a hatipy peo- 
ple, our fields witluga n b gin to yield their in- 
crease, our railroads and rivers will tetm with 
abnu'lant ci)tnm! rce, our to\v'us an i our cities 
wi 1 resouud with the tumult ' f trade, and we 
sha 1 be invigorated by the blessinL;s ol Al- 
mighty God. I am, sir, very re^pecti ully. 

Your most otiedtent servant, 
James Longstkeet. 

It was the venom, diffiisetl throu<rh 
the vuried ratu'ilicatiousof Soutliern so- 
ciety by the greater portion of the 
classes desij^nated, tluit lias produced 
the present bitter liatred for tlie Repub- 
lican party ot the country — tlie secret 
assassinations for opinion's sal\e — the 
riots at Menipiiis, Galveston, Kiehmond, 
Mobile, Charleston and Xew Orleans — 
the letribiitive measures of disfran- 
chisement by the Le^rislature of Tennes- 
see, and the military governments es- 
tablished b3' Congress over the ten un- 
restored ex-rebel States. Heaven only 
knows what other ills the South yet 
may suffer from the insane policy of our 
press and politicians. Alas! poor' South; 
you are still doomed to be betrayed, 
impoverished and exhausted by a mis- 
erable set of little traitors to your felici- 
ty aiul existence, whom you have suf- 



fered to nestle and grow within year 
bosom, making you at once the source 
of their prolit and importtmce and the 
unfortunate victim of their vices — re- 
ducing you to the melanciioly necessity 
of supporting their arrogant preten- 
sions and of expiring under their crimeSr 
like some noble lion that perishes by 
the poison of that reptile race, that 
while they find shelter in his royal 
mane, sting the magnanimous animal to 
death. 

Immediately after the cessation of 
hostilitie.s, thousands of iSTorthern capi- 
talists, with millions ot capital, came 
South, to rebuild our ruined cities and 
to re-people and re-animate our waste 
solitudes, but both have retreated 
ISTorthward again — the one driven back, 
abashed and exasperated, from a chilled 
disrespect or a despicable repulse — the 
other only to return in Christian chari- 
ties to relieve our starving thousands 
from imminent death. Behold Boston. 
In mercy she closed her bright eye of war, 
and from her redundant horn ot plenty 
she showered upon imploriny, starving 
Charleston her love and mercy. Yes, cit- 
izens of Boston, as long as thy name is 
remembered among the civilized nations 
of Christendom, so long will the memo- 
ry of this immortal deed be cher- 
ished in imperishable gratitude by every 
feeling heart. For if, in thy country's 
name, thou didst smite the intrepid 
warrior with thy sword ; yet, in heav- 
en's name, thou didst clothe and feed 
his he]|)le.ss wife and children. Thou 
didst give to the poor — thou didst lend 
to the Lord. 

"all is lost except honor." 

Formerly this was the cant reply of 
the leaders and press of the ex-rebel 
States in their indignant refusal to sub- 
mit to any plan of restoration adopted 
by the past Kepubliean Congress. Now, 
however, satisfied that the mighty Jove 
has removed his throne and power to 
thunder from the White House at Wash- 
ington, these same gentlemen and this 
identical press, clutch with avidity at 
every phantom of hope that may Hit 
across ttie pathwaj^ of desolation to 
which they are hurrying the very coun- 
try they, in 1862, sacrificed to their 
lawless ambition. Twelve months- 
nay, six months ago it was not only dis- 
honorable, but pusillanimous to enter- 
tain any proposition from Congress; 
but to-day it is very honorable to sub- 
mit to tli'at polysrlot of abominations, 
'•the Military bill," and it is done with 
ala(;rity. The revolutionary Democrat, 
or the disorganizing Conservative, out- 
Ilerods the consistent Kepubliean in 
professions of political fraternity for 
the African race. How remarkable this 
change of opinion ! Does it not require 
all the sanguine credulity of youth, and 
all the fervid glow of the wildest imag- 
ination to believe it. Fortunate race, 
may notlrng occur in the future histo- 
ry of this remarkable Conservative par- 
ty to vaiy the prospect or dim thespleu- 
dor of your nascent sun. 

"All is lost except honor." How in- 
appropriate this reply of ex-rebels to a 
loyal Congress and party. When Fran- 
cis I, King of France, was beaten in 
the famous battle of Pavia, in 1525, by 



the forces of Charles V, Emperor of 
Gernuiii}'. lie was forced to suiTeiicIer 
with all his principal otheers. Riitlier 
than submit to the humiliation of de- 
livcriii*;- up Ins sword to the Constable 
Bonrboi), who commanded tiu; forces of 
the Emjwror of Germany, and who had 
turned traitor to Francis and his native 
France, the indiofnant King surrsnder- 
ed it to De Lannoy, Viceroj^ ol Naples. 
Francis, in announcing his defeat to his 
mother, thus said: "Mother, I have lost 
all except honor." It was Francis, a 
loyal King, who never drew his sword 
against his beloved country, that spoke 
this noble sentiment, and not the traitor 
Bourbon. 

This pretentious claim of honor by 
certain ex-rebols, in spite of its indeli- 
cacy, reminds us of a similar species of 
honor ridiculed by Butler in his Hudi- 
bras — . 

But ITndibras gave him a twitch. 
As quick as ligntninj; in the breich. 
Just in the place where h inoi s lodged, 
As \vi>e iihiioso^jhers have judged, 
Jfecause a kick in that jjl^K-e uiore 
Hurts such honor than wounds before; 

All is lost, except honor. This reply 
of treason to loyalty is unblushing in 
impudence, and defiant in audacity. In 
the estimation, of these ex-rebels, it is 
very honorable to levy war against their 
country — to sacrifice a million of lives 
upon the altar ot an unliallowed ambi- 
tion — to reduce to widowhood, orphan- 
age, beggaij-, crime and wretchedness, 
millions of human beings — to wrap 
cities in flames, and whelm States in 
ruin, and entail upon unborn genera- 
tions three thousand milhons of oppres- 
sive debt. This reply is about as grace- 
ful and appropriate as that of C;iin, the 
lirst murderer, to his God, when He 
asked him where was liis brother — "am 
I my brother's keeper?"" That honor 
that consists in treason, in violating the 
laws of one's country and one's God — 
that persists in wholesale murder and 
crime for years, is upon a par with a 
duelist's honor, who vainly imagines 
that he ceases to be a murderer, a vil- 
lain or a savage because he can light; 
" that all crimes, however revolting, can 
be wiped out by blood ; " that true honor 
can alone be acquired or maintained by 
cold blooded and deliberate murder; 
*"■ that steel and gun powder are the true 
diagnostics of innocence and worth." 
Bears and lions are no less honorable 
than such monsters, for a life of blood 
is their nature too- 

There is but one honor that a brave 
and good man should ever covet, and 
that is to serve with fidelity his God, 
his country and his tellow man. This 
is that high-born honor for which a man, 
if necessary, should sacrifice his life, 
for it accords with the principles of 
justice, humanity, patriotism, eternal 
rectitude. 

Be sure you are right, then firmly act, 
For in such act on true honor lies. 

The Greeks and Romans differed ex- 
ceedingly from such Conservatives of 
this day in their estimation of honor. 
Virtue and honor were deemed insepar- 
able by them, and so defined. Their 
consecrated temples at Rome were so 
constructed that their votaries could 
not enter the oue without passing 



through the other. Thus the Greek and 
Roman regarded individual and nation- 
al honor as synonj'mous with individu- 
al and national virtue. Did they ever 
regard a rebellious opposition to the 
laws of one's country or treason a pub- 
lic virtue? A virtuous submission to 
the laws of God and one's country con- 
stitutes the Corinthian capital of true 
honor. 

THE PKINCIPLES AND POLICY OF THE NA- 
TIONAL REPUBLICAN PARTY. 

No politic!il society can exist without 
an organized government — no well reg- 
ulated libertj^ can exist without impar- 
tially administered laws. Therefore 
those who, instigated by an inordinate 
ambition, by avarice, by sectional ani- 
mosity, or any other wicked purpose, 
attempt to subvert the existing govern- 
ment — to defy and overthrow the laws, 
are enemies to society and humanity — 
to political libert}', to social order and 
individual happiness. 

Again:- -To maintain our form of gov- 
ernment and our constitutional liberty, 
the laws muse be executecland their vio- 
lations punished. Hence the principles 
and policy of the National Republican 
party. 

Firstly. Every administration of the 
government shall entorce, as the funda- 
mental law of the land, the constitution 
and all laws of the United States made 
in pursuance thereof; and all treaties 
made or which shall be made under the 
authority' of the Unjted States; and the 
jndges in every State shall be bound 
thereby — anything in the constitution 
or laws of any State to the contrary 
notwithstanding. 

Second!}'. Secession of one or more 
States is disunion — disunion is treason. 
and the penalty of treason is death and 
the confiscation of property. 

Ihirdiy. American constitutional lib- 
erty can alone be maintained by the 
virtue, intelligence and patriotism of 
our citizens, their political and civil 
equality; hence we are in favor of equal 
rights, tree schools, free speech, a tree 
press and a Christian education. 

Fourtlily. That as Congress alone can 
admit new States into the Union, can 
make all needful rules and regulations 
respecting the territory or other prop- 
erty belonging to the United States or 
dispose of the same, or have the power 
to declare the punishment of treason ; 
therefore Congress, in order to punish 
the treason of rebellious States, to pre- 
serve the Union and thfe constitution, 
and to enforce a loyal obedience to the 
same, have the power to make all need- 
ful rules and regulations with regard to 
such rebellious States, or to establish 
such forms of government over them 
as will best accomplish the objects and 
purposes aforesaid. 

Thus have we s^rouped together in the 
form of propositions the essential prin- 
ciples constituting the policy or plat- 
form of the Republican party. What 
patriot or votary of our constitutional 
libertj'' can object to them? Those em- 
braced in the two first propositions were 
proclaimed and were enforced by the 
immortal Washington, the elder Adams, 
by xVndrew Jackson, and the benefactor 
of his race, Abraham Lincoln. 



The whisky rebellion of Pennsylva- 
nia, in 1794, w^s instijiated by the dem- 
ocratic societies and party, who were hos- 
tile to the administration of Geor^^e 
AVashinofton, and tlireatened to involve 
the whole Union in general couliaufration 
a..s we are informed bv Ciiief Justice 
Marshall, in his lile of Washington, vol. 
2, pa^re 345. General Washington, as we 
are informed by nis two proclamations, 
of August 7th and September 2.5th, and 
his Sixth Annual Message to Congress, 
in 1794, declared that this rebellion was 
treason against the people and Govern- 
ment of the United States; and the in- 
stigators of it, as well as their aiders and 
abetters, were traitors. General Wash- 
ington called upon the Governors of 
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, 
and Maryland to fvirnish him fifteen 
thousand troops to suppress it. The 
Governors of these States consented with 
alacrity to his request, and comu)anded 
in person their respective troops. Under 
the supreme direction of General Wash- 
ington, as generalissimo, they marched 
fortli to the rendezvous of the traitors, 
in West Pennsylvania. General Wash- 
ington, after having directed the gen- 
eral operations, left for the capital, be- 
stowing the chief command upon Gen- 
eral Lee, then Governor of Virginia. 
This rebellion, that menaced for a time 
the whole Union, was immediately sup- 
pressed. Here we behold the State of 
Virginia — yes. old Virginia, in 179-1, un- 
der her beloved Washington as President 
and under her Gen. Lee as Governor — 
sending forth her troops into a sister State 
to suppress a treasonable insurrection 
and to punish the traitors and their trea- 
son — asserting and enforcing the funda- 
mental doctrine of the Republican pjii-- 
ty that the Uinon and constitution 
shall be preservtnl — the laws made in 
pursuance tlie/eof shall be enforced — 
traitors and treason shall be punished. 
In his Sixth Annual Message referred 
to, he recommended to Congress, (and 
it complied,) that while those who com- 
mitted overt acts of treason should be 
punished, it was their duty to indem- 
nify " all citizens who had sufi'ered dam- 
ages by their generous exertions, lor 
upholding the constitution and laws;" 
adding, ''that the government would 
be ampl}^ repaid by the influence of an 
example, that he who Incurs a loss in 
its defense shall find a recon)pense in 
its liberality. (Statesman's Manual, vol. 
1, p. 58,) 

Again, in 1799, another rebellion less 
formidable than the above, broke out in 
the western counties of Pennsylvania, 
during the administration of the ^Ider 
Adams. He denounced it and its insti- 
gators, and suppressed it by the strong 
arm of the military, in the same man- 
ner as his illustrious predecessor. He 
had traitors punished and loyal men in- 
demnihed for losses. (Sec his Third An- 
nual Message, Dec. 3d, 1799, History 
Fed. Gov. p. 104.) These two rebellions, 
the former to defeat the Excise law 
upon the distillation of whisky— the lat- 
ter the law relative to the valuation of 
houses and lands,were instigated by the 
same class or character of persons that 
plotted the secession of South Carolina 
in 1833, and the recent rebellion of 18tJ3, 



viz: Political associations calling them- 
selves Democratic. 

South Carolina,, through her Governor 
and Legislature in 1832. proclaimed that 
the tariff laws of 1828 and 1832 were 
unconstitutional, and they would resist 
them with force. While the bill was 
before the Senate in January, 1833, giv- 
ing President Jackson full power to 
enforce the laws, Mr. Calhoun intro- 
duced a series of resolutions, one of 
which denied to the Federal Govern- 
ment or any of its department the con- 
stitutional power to coerce the States 
into a submission to the laws of Con- 
gress by the employment of force. The 
citizens of South Carolina did not then, 
dare to commit an overt act of treason, 
but subsided into an obedience to the 
laws. Pres.id en t Jackson, in his procla- 
mation of December 11th, 1832, and in 
his Null i fie atibn Message of January 
16th, 1833, declared that he would exe- 
cute by force, if necessary, the laws — 
that '■'■the doctrine of secession was that 
of unhallowed disunion; that one overt 
act was treason, and that the instigators 
as well as their aiders and abetters 
should suffer condign punishment." If 
Washington, Adams or Jackson bad 
been President during our recent rebel- 
lion, would Jefi". Davis and his peers in 
treason have escaped its penalty of 
death ? If the merciful Lincoln had 
lived, even he never would have con- 
sented to a less pvinishment than an 
eternal expatriation of the ringleaders 
of the recent rebellion and the confisca- 
tion of their property. Of ail soldiers 
and citizens otherwise he would demand, 
as all good Kepublieans now demand, a 
total abandonment of all treasonable 
designs, sentiments and feelings, and a 
restoration of reciprocal kindness, con- 
fidence and love. This is all the pun- 
ishment and confiscation we now re- 
quire. 

ANDREW JOUNSON'S AND EMERSON ETH- 

ekidge's record. 

Thus far we have demonstrated that 
the great doctrines of constitutional 
liberty advocated by the National Re- 
publican party, and embraced in our two 
first propositions, were advocated and 
enforced by Washington, Adams, Jack- 
son and Lincoln ; also, the instigators 
and their accomplices of all the treas- 
onable rebellions anterior to that of 
iS62, were those belonging to associa- 
tions, or a party called Democratic. 

Again, it is a remarkable fact that 
these wicked men have attempted to 
justify their treason under the plea of 
the sovereign or reserved rii/hts of the 
State. The rebellions of VVashingtou 
and Adams \\ere suppressed by a party 
then called Federal or Reuublican — thals 
of South Carolina, in 1832, by a party 
ealled Whig, under the leadership of 
Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, aid- 
ed by that portion of the Deniocrat- 
ic party called Jacksonian. in contra- 
distinction to the State Rights Democ- 
racy, under the leadership of Mr. Cal- 
houn. 

It is a solemn truth of history that 
the Republican party, whether called 
Federal in the days of Washington 
and Adams, and Jackson orWiiigdii- 
riug the exiiteuge of Clay and Wybster, 



and since their death, never advocated 
in speeches or national phitfornis the 
doctrine of State Riijlits as expounded 
by the Democratic party, but invariably 
denounced it as revolutionary and treas- 
onable. 

Again, it is a solemn historical truth 
tliat since the days of plattorms, the 
Whiij or Republican party, in every 
platform from 1840 to 1860, have asserted 
as their cardinal doctrines the supreme 
authority and obligation of the consti- 
tution, the laws of Congress and treat- 
ies made in pursuance thereof. On the 
other hand, the Democratic party in 
not one of their national platforms ever 
asserted this great doctrine as a part of 
their political faith, but instead, sub- 
stituted the Virijinia and Kentucky 
resolutions of 1798 and '99 — from which 
resolutions of Stai'e Rights the seces- 
sionists, revolutionists and traitors of 
every rebellion since 1798, as from a ter- 
rible magazine, have drawn in justitica- 
tion all their thunderbolts of disunion, 
treason and blood. Such also was the 
character of the Rhode Island and the 
Ohio rebellions. 

Again, we assert without the fear of 
contradiction, that the Democratic par- 
ty is responsible, and was the author of 
tne recent rebellion, with all its horrors 
and crimes of blood and desolation, of 
disfranchisement and confiscation. We 
will, upon tliis occasion, confine our 
proof to tlie assertion of two gentlemen, 
somewhat prominent at the present 
time from their political position — we 
allude to Andrew Johnson, President of 
the United States, and hmerson Ether- 
idge, the Conservative candidate for 
the Gubernatorial chair of State. 

President .Johnson was United States 
Senator of tiiis State in lS6U-"61-"62. He 
made two speeches in the Senate, the 
first near tlie close of the session in 
1861, and the latter January 31, 1862. In 
these speeches he sums up all the causes 
of the rebellion, and lie asserted that the 
Southern leaders of the Democracy 
were '"responsible for all the bloodshed 
and murder of the rebellion;" '-that if 
their Representatives in Congress had 
not resigned their seats, but remained 
in them and voted, no measure could 
have passed Congress detrimental to 
their constitutional rights or interests." 
He exclaimed, "I believe, Mr. Presi- 
dent, that these gentlemen were acting 
In pursuance of a settled and fixed plan 
to break up and destroy the govern- 
ment." (See Congressional Globe of 
1861 and 1862, and McPherson's Histo- 
ry of the Rebellion, pp. 66 and 67.) 

It is a fact that every one of the elev- 
en States that rebelletl in 1862 were in 
the possession and under the control 
txclusively of the Democratic party. 
The old Whig party was almost extin- 
guished in name and power. What few 
Representatives fromthe South it had in 
Congrei"S in 1861, almost to a man, were 
opposed to the rebellion, and remained 
true to the Union. 

In the North, both in Congress and in 
the States, nearly overy member of the 
Copperhead or Conservative party be- 
longed, anterior to the war, to the Dem- 
ocratic party ; and it was this party that 
contained all the opposition to the sup- 



pression of the rebellion, in and out of 
Congress. 

EMEKSON ETHERIDGEON THE DEMOCRACY. 

Were it not for this gentlenjan's pres- 
ent ijosition, what iie may have said up- 
on any subject would not in the slight- 
est manner interest us. This gentle- 
man, from his debut in Congress as a 
Representative from this State to the 
period of his election to the clerkship 
ot the House of Representatives, almost 
in every speech, has denounced the 
Democratic party as the authors of 
our sectional strife. In his speeches of 
1861, he charges them as the autiiors and 
instigators of the war, and as alone 
responsible for all its crimes and conse- 
quences. (As proof, see A pp. Cong. 
Globe,pp. 39 and 40,1 Sess. 34th Congress, 
1855; see App. Cong. Globe, 1 Sess. 33d 
Congress, p. 835, of 1854; pp. 368 and 369 
34th Congress, 3d Sess., App. p. 1,498; 
Cong. Globe, part 2d, 1st Sess. .S6th Con- 
gress, 1859 and 1860.) In his speech in 
1861 he declares the rebellion of 1862 
'"the most extraordinary, unparalleled 
and unjustifiable the world ever saw" — 
denounced the traitors as sporting with 
the worst passions of mankind. In his 
sneech of March 2, at the courthouse in 
the city of Nashville, there was no 
fierce or sanguinary epithet he did not 
apply to the instigators of the rebellion 
and all those who7 directly or indirect- 
ly, aided or abetted them. (See Nash- 
ville Banner of that date.) 

Is it not remarkable that ninety-nine 
hundredths of the very men denounced, 
above by Pi-esident Johnson and Emer- 
son Etheridge, constitute the party 
to which they alone look for fa- 
vor or otllcial position. On the 
other hand, the millions of loyal men 
that sustained in every emergency the 
government in the suppression of the 
rebellion are their political opponents. 
Again, but it is stranger still, that these 
two gentlenifn who have mutuallj' de- 
nounced each other as traitors and ty- 
rants, now are mutually sustained by 
the same party and by each other. On 
the 15th of October, 1864, and October 
29, 1864, W. B. Campbell, T. A. R. Nel- 
son, Henry Cooper and Emerson Eth~ 
eridge, with six others from this State, 
now all Conservatives, sent two ''im- 
mortal " protests against the tyranny 
and other high crimes and misdemean- 
ors of Andrew Johnson, then military 
Governor of this State, thri)ugh their 
fiuthorized agent, jfohn Lellyett, one of 
the protestors, to Washington, to induce 
his removal by Mr. Lincoln. Andrew 
Johnson was not satisfied with being 
merely sustained by President Lincoln, 
but having called together his loyal 
friends at the Capitol of the State, made 
them a speech in which he denounced 
the treason of said Etheridge and friends. 
Among many things, he said: ''Loyal 
men from this day forward are to be 
controllers of the grand and sublime 
desti.iy of Tennessee, and 7-ehels must be 
dumb. We must not listen to their 
counsels. Nashville is no longer the 
place for them to hold their meetings. 
Let them gather their treasonable con- 
claves elsewhere — among their friends in 
the Confederacy. They shall not hold 
their conspiracies in Nashville." 
This is very severe against Etheridge, 



10 



and President Johnson must in his heart 
loathe him still. Etheridge now sus- 
tains the President — nay, he speaks 
kindly and couiplimentary of him. But 
this 

Is mouth honor— bre;ith, wliich 

The poor lieiirt would faiu rei use, but dare not. 

(See McP. H. of K. pp. 440-41.) 

ANDREW JOHNSON SUSTAINS THE PRINCI- 
PLES AND POLICY OF THE ItEPUBLICAN 
PARTY. 

He has ever advocated the paramount 
authority of the Federal Constitution 
and the laws made in pursuance thereof 
— aiiythino^ in the constitution and the 
laws of the States to the contrary. He 
has ever asserted that rebellion against 
the same was treason ; that all trai- 
tors should be punished; that the 
instigators of treason should sutler 
death and confiscation; that none but 
loyal men shouhl be permitted to vote or 
hold office, and that all traitors and their 
aiders and active sympathizers should 
be disfranchised and disqualitied from 
holding office in the Federal or State 
Governments. He has never uttered one 
word retracting what he has said in the 
almost innumerable speeches he has 
made against the punishment of treason 
and traitors; their disqualification to 
vote or hold office; their disfranchise- 
ment or confiscation of property. In- 
deed, but very few of the most radical 
Republicans have ever advocated his 
extreme measures. The proofs are his 
speeches in the United States Senate in 
1861 and '62; his speech while military 
Governor of Tennessee — first at the St. 
Cloud Hotel in February, 1862; at the 
court house in this city March 2d, 18G2; 
at the Capitol, where he denounced Lell- 
yett, Campbell, Etheridgeand others as 
traitors; in his interview with citizens 
of Indiana at Washington, as President, 
April 21st, 1865; speech to the Virginia 
refugees, April 24th, 1SG5; interview 
with the Committee of the Legislature 
of Virginia, February 10th, 1866; 
speech ot February 22, 1866, as re- 
ported by the National Intelligencer; 
and his .-innual Message. December 4th, 
186.5. (From p. 44 to 64, McPherson's 
Political Manual.) 

TREASON IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- 
TIVES OF THE UNITED STATES. 

On the 14th of December, 1865. Mr. 
Henderson, of Oregon, snbmit'ed the 
following resolution : Resolved "that 
treason again'st the Gjsvernnient of the 
United States icas a crime that ought to 
be punished." It passed the House 
without a dissenting voice, every Dem- 
ocrat voting for it. (P. M., p. 109.) 

EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES. 

Upon the present occasion we will 
only notice one more topic of discussion 
embraced in the propositions we have 
designated, as constituting the platform 
of the Republican party, and that is 
emancipation. 

Mr. Etheridge stated in his speech in 
this city, recently, that the constitu- 
tional amendment abolishing slavery 
throughout the United States could not 
have passed without the aid of Demo- 
cratic votes, and it was the Democratic 
or Conservative votes that did pass it. 
Again he said, that it required a certain 
number of slaveholding State.* to adopt 



it as an amendijient before it became a 
part of the fundamental lavv, which 
requisite number of ex-rebel or slave- 
holding States did adopt it, thus atlbrd- 
ing incontestable proof that the Demo- 
crats or Conservatives were as mucii in 
favor of the emancipation of the slaves 
as the Republicans. 

Let us examine the truth of these as- 
sertions. The proposed amendment 
abolishing slavery throughout the 
United States passed the Senate of the 
United States April 8th, 1864. Senators 
voting for it were 38 — all Republicans 
but two, who were Conservatives; Sen- 
ators voting against it, 6 — all Conserva- 
tives. 

The amendment passed the House of 
Representatives, Januaiy 31, 1865; Rep- 
resentatives voting for it 119 — all Re- 
publicans but fourteen, who were Con- 
servatives! Representatives voting 
against it 56 — all Conservatives. There 
were eight Conservatives or Democrats 
that absented themselves and would not 
vote — they were against the bill, but 
dared not vote against it. Thus we see 
out of a total vote of 78 Conservative 
Representatives only 14 voted to eman- 
cipate the slaves; and nearly every one 
of these fourteen are now acti'" •: with 
the Republican party. At the next 
session of Congress the Republicans 
could have passed the bill without the 
aid ot a Democratic vote, from the ac- 
cession of strength from members new- 
ly elected in tlie place of Democrats. 
The President desired his friends to 
pass it at this session, because he s.aid 
it was essential to re-establish peace at 
an earlier day with the rebel States. 
We ourself are cognizant of all the 
facts connected with its passage. (See 
McPherson's Historv ot the War, pages 
256 and 591.) 

THE ACTION OF THE SLAVE STATES RELA- 
TIVE TO EMANCIPATION. 

Long before the war closed, the proc- 
lamations of President Lincoln, on the 
22d of September, 1862, and January 
1st, 1863, as well as the passage of the 
constitutional amendment. January 31st, 
1865, had emancipated all the slaves of 
the rebel States. Beside, it was made 
the duty of all officers of the army and 
navy commanding in the several rebel 
States, to proclaim and enforce the 
emancipation proclamations, which 
they invariably did. Therefore the 
mere adoption of the constitutional 
amendment by these States amounted 
to a nullity. Very few of their citizcHS 
could vote, and none hold office or were 
eligible to seats in the Legislatures or 
States conventions, but under the mo.st 
stringent qualifications. What they 
did in relation to the emancipation of 
the slaves was done from dire necessity 
under the glare and dread of the bayo- 
net, and not from choice. Beside, Pres- 
ident Johnson, in dispatches to several 
ot their military Governors, urged 
them to adopt it to avoid the plea of 
confiscation. A few general facts will 
settle this question definitely. 

First. When President Lincoln issued 
his first proclamation of emancipation, 
Mr. S. C Fessenden, of Maine, introduc- 
ed a resolution December 15, 1862. in the 
House of Representatives justifying it 
upon the ground of constitutional pow- 



11 



er, Justice and expediency, and every 
Democrufc or Conservative of tiie House 
voted a<raiust it. 

Ajjfaiii, every bill, resolution or prop- 
osition introduced in the Senate or 
House of Representatives of the United 
States eniiuicipatinjr the shives. was in- 
troduced by KepublicauSj'and not one 
by any Democrat. 

Ajfiiin. every Hjill, or resolution, or 
proposition introduced in said Senate or 
House iriviu"- to the colored man any of 
the civil or political rights ot a freeman 
or citizen was introduced by Eepubll- 
cans, and not one by a Democrat. 

Such is the history of tlie facts in this 
State relative to the emancipation and 
enfranchisement of the slaves. 

Attain, to prove mo>t incontestably 
the sentiments and feelings ot the reb- 
el States in relation to the emancipation 
of the slaves — althoufth many of the 
colored people had been employed by 
the rebel government, or forced into 
their military service as teamsters.cooks. 
builders of fortilications, or common 
soldiers, and many killed in the tierce 
conllict of armies — there never was a 
law passed by any State Legislature, or 
by the rebel government, tluit emanci- 
pated them or their families. Beside, 
the last law that passed the rebel Con- 
gress calling for 300,000 additional 
troops, irrespective of color, especially 
provided that the colored soldiers should 
not be emancipated. Thus v;e have 
the animus of the slave States 
upon this subject. And to-day 
in every ex-rebel slave State, if the 
exercise of the elective franchise were 
given and confined to the white popula- 
tion, they would vote by overwhelming 
majorities against giving to the colored 
man the political and civil rights of the 
>vhite man, and all their legislation since 
the cessation of hostilities to the present 
time prove this. (See Political Manual 
for 1866, by McPherson, from p. IS to 
28; McPherson, H. R., pp. 611 and 612.) 

TELE SLAVERY RECORD OF EMERSON 
ETHERIDGE. 

The Conservative press and orators of 
this State, friends of Mr. Etheridge, 
declare he has ever been favorable to 
the freedom of the slave, and conse- 
quently you find in the Nashville Ban- 
ner of April 2Ist, 1867, the following: 

LET IT BE Ki- MEMBERED Til AT EMER- 
SON ETHEKIDGiiOI'POSEDTHE KANSAS 
NEBRASKA BILL BECAUSE IT EXTEND- 
E(>^LAVERY. 

LErir BE KEMEMBERKDTHATE 'ER- 
SON ETHERIUGE WAS THE ONLY SOUT i- 
ERN CONgRKSsMAN THAT VOTED TO 
ADMIT KANSAS WITH A FKHE STATE 
COS.STITUTION. 

LET ITBE REMEMBERED THAT EMER- 
SON ET^.ERIDG OFFEiiED A RESOLU- 
TION I^f CONGRESS DENOUNCING THE 

Ai rican slave trade. 

The facts are as follows: The famous 
Kansas-Nebraska bill passed the House 
of Representatives May 22d. 185-4 — yeas 
113; nays 100. Voting against it were 
the following slaveholders from Tennes- 
see: Mr. Etheridge, Mr. Briggs, Mr. 
Cullom and Mr. Taylor; and in the Sen- 
ate, the lion. John Bell. Not one of 
these gentlemen ever asserted at the 
time or since that they voted against this 
bill because they were in favor of the 
freedom of the slaves in the District of 
Columbia, in the slave States, or iii the 



Territories. Beside these, many gen- 
tlemen from other slave States voted 
with Mr. Etheridge against it. who, like 
him, were notorious slaveholders and 
advocators of slavery. Again, many 
gentlemen from the Northern States 
voted for it. who were opposed to the 
institution of slavery. (SeeMcChiskey's 
Text Book, p. 357.) 

Again, it is said that Mr. Etheridge 
voted for the admission of Kansas (as a 
State) into the Union under the Topeka 
constitution, which did exclude slavery. 
On page 389, McCluskey's Text Book, 
I you find the following :" 

j On the 7th of April, 185(), the memorial of the 
Senators and "Representatives of the so-c;i.liei 
State of Kansas, accompanied by tho c mstitu- , 
tion of sa d State, adoptid at Topeka, praying 
the admiss onoi the same into the Union, was 
un-sented and referred to the Committee on 
Ten itories. 

Mr. Grow, of Pennsylvania, on behalf of the 
Committee on Territories, consisting of himself, 
Messr-. Giddings, of Ohio: Granger, of New 
York; Purviancoof Pennsylvania; Moirill, of 
Vermont, and Perry, of Maine, reported a bill to 
admit Kansas as a St.te under the Topeka con- 
stitution 

Mr. ZollicofTer, of Tennes-^ee, svibmitted a min- 
ority report from the same committee, wi h a bill 
providing lor the format on of a constitution and 
St.ite government, and the admission of Kansas 
as a ."tute. 

The bill of the majority of the committee ad- 
mitring K nsas unuer tne Topeka constitution, 
was rejected on the 30th of J uue, by yeas and 
navs as follows : Yeas ICG [nearly all Iree-soil- 
ers] , nays 107. 

Mr. Etheridge, instead of voting for 
this bill excluding slavery from Kansas, 
voted with nearly every member of the 
slave States against it. From Tennessee, 
voting with Mr. Etheridge, were Felix 
ZoHicofter, Sneed, George Jones, Taylor, 
Wright and Charles Ready. 

ABOLITION 0F THE SLAVE TRADE. 

Again, it is said that Mr. Etheridge 
was opposed to African slavery and 
friendly to the emancipation of tlie col- 
ored race because he introduced the fol- 
lowing resolution in the House of Rep- 
resentatives, December 15, 1856 : 

Hesolved, That this House of Represent atives 
regard all suf<gesti >n- and propositions of every 
kin'(, by whomsoever made, tor a revival of the 
African slave tr ide. as shocking to the moral 
sentiment ot the enlightened portion of man- 
kind ; and that any action on th part of Cou- 
griss conniving at or legalizing that horrd and 
inanman traffic, would justly subjeot thii Gov- 
ernment and citizens ol the Unite I States to 
the reproach and execration of all civilized and 
Christian people thiougiiout the world. 

This resolution at the time, by many 
Representatives both from the North, 
and the South, was denounced as in- 
opportune and unnecessary, because 
the Government of the United States, 
from 1794, had prohibited by sundry 
legislation this inhuman traffic; and, in 
1820, had declared any citizen, directly 
or indirectly engaged in it, should be 
adjudged guilty of piracj^ and on con- 
viction should suffer death. The Rep- 
resentatives from Tennessee, wdio voted 
with Mr. Etheridge for tills resolution, 
were General ZoUicoffer, Mr. Reiidyand 
]Mr. Rivers — all slave holders, and since, 
I believe, ex-rebels; beside, there were 
also many slave holders from Delaware, 
Maryland, Missouri, Alabama, Ken- 
tucky and North Carolina who voted 
for it. 

On this occasion the ex-rebel Senator 
Orr, of South Carolina, introduced the 
Ibllowing resolution, more succinctly 



12 



embracing tlie substance of the Ethe- 
rid^e resolution. 

This resolution was adopted, with but 
eAght dissentinor votes. (See Cluskey's 
Text Book, pajres 585, 88, 89.) 

Mr. Orr — I ask the unanimous consent of the 
House ti> I fl'er the following resolution : 

" Bexolved, Thatii is inexped eut. unwise and 
contrary to the settled policy ol' tlie United 
States, to rr j)eal the laws prohibiting the Afri- 
can slave trade. 

Mr. Barclay (Republican), ol Pennsylvania, 
objected. 

The rults were suspended, yeas 181, nays 10. 

The negative voti» was as follows: 

Nays— Messrs. Barclay, Bark>d:ile, Hendley 
S. Bennett, Brooks, CrawlO'd, Day. Garnett, 
Quitman, Short r, Walker— 10. 

To prove most conclusively that Mr. 
Etheridj^e's resolution was sounding 
brass, signifying nothing, Mr. Boyce, 
another South Carolina secessionist and 
slaveholder, introduced the following 
as a substitute for Col. Orr's resolution : 

Mr. Boyce— I have a substitute for my col- 
league's resolution, whii',li 1 ask may be read for 
the information of the House. The resolution 
■\v«s read, as follows: 

Hesolved, That the IIousp of Representatives, 
expressing, as they believe, public opinion 
both North and south, ari: utterly oppoaed to 
the re-opening of the slave trade. 

Thus, there could scarcely be found 
one solitary Representative from the 
slave States in Congress opuosed to the 
principle of Mr. Etiieridge's resolution, 
or in favor of re-opening of the slave 
trade. 

etheridge's resolutions to amend the 
constitution. 
Page 297 of the Congressional Globe, 
for Jan. 7, 1861, the session of the 36th 
Congress: 

AMEXD.MENT OF THE CONSTITUTION. 
Mr. Etheridge— Mr. Sp aker, I desire to ask 
the unanimous consent, of the House to intiO" 
duce a joint resolution providing for amend- 
ments to the Constitution of the United States. 
I do so sir, lor the pu pose of uettiui? them be- 
fore the country and belore the meini)ers of the 
House, ami ofhaving them pri ted. I wi 1 send 
them to theCierR's .lesk, that the}' may l^y rea I. 
If objections be made, I will move a suspension 
of the rules. 

The Clerk read Mr. Etheridge's resolution, as 
follows : 

A joint resolution providing for amendments to 
the < onstitiition of the Uniiefl Stales. 
£e it resolved bti ike /Senate and House of Rep- 
resentati-ces of tits United Utates of America in 
CongrfiSH asueinbled, that th.^ following atneiid- 
mei ts to the C.>nstiiutioii of the Un ted .States 
he proposed lo the several States for their adop- 
tion or ratilic ition: 

AKTICLE 1. Congress Shall have no power to 
inter'ere with slavery in any of tha States of 
the Union. 

ART. i Congress shall have no power to in- 
terlere with or abolish slavery in any of the navy 
yards, do.k yards, ursenals, forts, or other idaces 
ceded to the Uniti d states, within the limits of 
an.v >tate where slavery exists. 

ART, 3. Congress shall have no power to in- 
terfere with or abolish shivery in ihe District 
of Columbia, without the coiisent of the St.Ttes 
of Maryland and Vir>;inia; nor without the 
consentof the inhabitants ol said Di-trict; nor 
without making just compensation to the 
owners. 

Art, 4. Congress shall have no power to pro- 
hibit the removal or transport ation of slaves 
from one slave St itc to another siave Siate. 

Akt ">. The miLrration or iiu.iort tion of iier- 
sons held to service or labor for life, or a term 
of years, into any of the States or Territories 
belonniug to the United States, is ))erpetually 
prohiliiteii; and Congress shall p.ass ail l^ws 
necvssary tomake suid (irohih'tion elfoc ive. 

Art. () In all that part of the territor y of the 
United States, not in^^iudell within the fimitsof 
any State, which lies north of the parallel of 
h6 deg. 30 mm. of north lat tude, slavery or iu- 
voluntcry S( rvitude, except for crime, whereof 
the paity shall have been duly convicted, shall 



be prohibited; and in alUhit territory of the 
United States, not includi-d within the limits of 
any State, whch lies south of said parallel of 
36 deg. 30 min. of north latitude, neiti.er Con- 
gress nor any Territorial Le/lsla ure shall h ive 
power lo pass any law aholish ng piohibiting, 
or in any manner interfering wiih the ri>;ht 
to hold slaves; and whenever, in anv ])ortionof 
the territory (.wijed bv the Uniteil St ites, north 
or south or -aid p irail^l of 36 deg. 3i) min., there 
shall he, within an area of not le-!s than sixty 
thousand sijuai e miles, a population eijuai to the 
ratio of representi'.tion for a member of Con- 
gr< s>, the same shall be admitted hy ( ongress 
into the Union as a State, upon the same foot- 
ing with the oaginal States in all r< spects what- 
ever, with or without slavery, as its constitu- 
tion may determine. 

AKT. 7. No territory beyond the present lim- 
its of the United St;:t('s and the Territories 
theri of shall be hereafter acquired hyoran- 
nexed to the Unit d states, unle-s the same be 
done by a concurrent vote of two-thirds of 
both houses of Congress, or if the same be ac- 
quired by treaty, by a vote of two-thirds of the 
Senate. 

Art. 8. Article four and section two of the 
Consiituilon at the United States shall be so 
amended as to read as follows: A person 
charged, in any Stite. wih treason, lelony or 
other crime (against the laws of said State), who 
shall flee from justice and be found in another 
State, shall, on detriand of the e.x'ecu live au- 
thority of the State from which he lied, be deliv- 
erei up, 10 l)e removed to the fctate having ju- 
risdiciion ot the crime. 

Article 1. Congress shall never in- 
terfere with slavery in the slave States. 
Slavery must therefore be eternal ia 
these States; for tiiese would never 
abolish it. Tlie slave-holders of no slave 
State in this world ever yet consented 
voluntarially to abolish slavery. It 
was always done by the strong arm of 
the government. 

Art. 2. In dock or navy yards, in 
arsenals, forts or other places owned by 
the government of the United States in 
the slave States, Congress should not 
abolish slavery. 

He would have the Federal Govern- 
ment to become a slave holder and a 
negro trader in the slave States, and re- 
main so forever. 

Art. 4. He is in favor of the trafBc of 
negroes among the slave States; the 
buying and selling of negroes like 
mules and cattle and hogs, tind opposed 
to all laws prohibiting it. 

Art. 6. He is in favor of drawing a 
black line across the United States. AH 
territory above 36 degrees and 30 min- 
utes may be free and white — all below 
must be slave and black. He would 
bind the .slaves of the slave States with 
eternal chains. 

Again, Mr. Etheridge, In a recent 
speech in this city, in reply to General 
Stokes, first denied positively that he 
ever introduced these resolutions in the 
House of Representatives; but when 
the record was produced, said that he 
introduced them because they were the 
Border States resolutions. But these are 
the facts: He introduced them because 
he had been in favor of them for years 
previously, and because he then was in 
favor of them. In 1854— first session of 
tlie 33d Congress, page 835, Appendix — 
he appealed, in his speech upon this oc- 
casion, to George W. Jones, of this State, 
then in iiis seat, if he hatl not been in 
favor of the Missouri Compromise line 
as the divisional line between tlie free 
and slave States, and if he ditl not op- 
pose the Kansas-Nebraska bill because 
he believed the bill abrogated this line? 
In his speech in Congress in 1861— pp. 
Ill, 115, 3Gth Cong., 2d session, App. to 



13 



Globe — he said he was in favor, first, of 
the resolutions which he had introduced 
as a compromise of our sectional diffi- 
culties. If he failed to succeed in ob- 
taininjr these, he next preferred the 
Crittenden resolutions. Thus, the above 
resolutions were his preference, which 
he introduced. 

ETHERIDGE IN FAVOR OF RETURNING FU- 
GITIVE STAVES TO THEIR MASTERS. 

On page 75 of j\IcPherson's Histor5'of 
the Rebellion you find tlie folio win tj: 
"A resolution beinfj introduced into the 
House of Eepresentativps recoaimend- 
inff to the Northern States to repeal 
'their Liberty bills,' or laws preventing 
fugitive slaves from being returned to 
their masters, Mr. Etheridge voted for 
the resolution;" thus proving that he 
was in favor ot returning the poor fu- 
gitive slave, in 18GL to his master. 

Since we cannot find in his resolutions 
or votes anything to relieve his black 
record of human slavery, can we find 
in his speeches a brighter spot? On 
page 39, Apoendix to the Congressional 
Globe, 1st session of the Thirty-fourth 
Congress, in a speech against the Kan- 
sas-Nebraska bill, he says : 

I assert that tin- South sramls upon a higher 
grounil — that we hoUl our slaves liy laws o iler 
than the coustitutioti, aiirl w ith which the Fed- 
era Constitut on has nothirg co (l.> except as I 
shall here.ifttr mention. Shivery ex.sted be- 
Jore the conbtituiion was I'ornied anrt we do 
not relj' upon iliiit instrunrenc fur authority to 
hold our slaves. The true |:o>ition ot the South 
is, that slaveiy in the States is auttiorizcd by 
law--ii is ours by adi ptioii. and Mtbject lo the 
exclusive <'ontrol ot the people amone whom it 
exists; and that the cons itution carries /t no- 
where, nor anywhere destroys it 

He asserts upon this occasion that the 
right of tlie slaveholder to his propertj^ 
in his fellow man is older than, and in- 
dependent of the Constitution of the 
United States; and tliat the slave can 
only be set free by the consent of his 
master — which means he is to remain 
in chains and slavery till doomsday. 
For when did the slaveholder ever wil- 
lingly consent to emancipate his slaves? 
Never in the world's history. 

THE SLAVE HAS NO LEGAL RIGHTS. 

On page 1.49S, Congressional Globe, 
part 2, 1st session, 36th Congress,! 859 and 
1860, in a speech made on the Utali Bill, 
Mr. Etheridge boldly asserts that the 
slave is no citizen of the United States, 
and that he has no rights under the con- 
stitution — not even the sacred one of 
husband and wife, father or child — yet 
are punislied for all crimes the)'' niay 
commit. If Mr. Etheridge was a friend 
to the poor slave, why did he not, when 
a member of tlie Legislature of Ten- 
nessee, introduce a bill for the gradual 
emancipntion of slaves in this State, or 
a bill declaring the inviolable sanctity 
of the marriage relations between 
slaves— of husband and wife, of father 
and child ? 

THE HOMESTEAD BILL. 

On the 2d of March, 1854, tlie House of 
Eepresentatives having resolved itself 
into a Committee of tlie Wliolc on the 
state of the Union, Mr. Olds in the 
chair, the chairman said : 

When the coroinit'ee last rose, ther had under 
coQsid raion speciil order of the House, being 
House bill (No. 37) "to ei. courage agriculture, 
commerce, niamifactures, and all other branch- 
es of indusiry, by gi anting to rvery man who is 
the head of a lamily and a citizen bt the United 
States, a homestead of oui* hundred and sixty 



acres of land out of the public domain, upon 
condition oi occupancy and cultivHtion of the 
same for the perio'1 herein sp- ciflei. 

On the 3d of March, 1854, durinsr the 
pendency of the bill before the House, 
Mr. Etheridge rose from his seat and 
said : 

I move the following as an additional section 
in the bdl : 

Sec — And be it further enacted. That the pro- 
vision-i ot this act shad never le held or deemed 
to app'y to !inv person or persons, ex( ept native 
born citizens of the United State» . and such other 
persons as arc now natuializeil, and to such 
other person or persons as, at the time ol the 
pas-age of this .-ct. sha'l have filed their de- 
claration of intention to become naturalize' I cit- 
izens accrdiuif to existing laws r'KUhitingthe 
miide and manner of naturaliz ng loreigners, 
and to no other person or persons lehomsoerer. 

Why did the Radical Union ptirty, mj'' 
colored friends, give you these rights? 
Because you were true to the flag, true 
to the Union, and true to the Union men 
and P'ederal soldiers. 

THE REASON OF HIS ANTIPATHY AND HA- 
TRED TO FOREIGNERS. 

Mr. Etheridge having, on the 21st ot 
December, upon the fioor of the House 
of Representatives, been called upon by 
Mr. Burnett, of Kentucky, to state 
whether or not he was a member of the 
Know-Nothing or American party, 
said : 

I have no hestitation in ini'orming the gentle- 
man from Kentucky [ Mr Burnc it], that, after 
the Philadeip'dapratform was made, linitorsed 
itieioremy < oiistinients as contain n^' princi- 
ples tc/iieh no party in this country had ever 
seriously disputed. — .App. to Cong. Globi-, p. 40.) 

The 6th and Sth resolutions of the 
Know-Nothing platform ot 1855 areas 
follows : 

6. The essential modification of thenatiiraliza- 
tion laws. 

The repeal b}' the Legislatures of the re-pec- 
tive Stn.tes,of alt State laws 1 owii5g foreignei'.s 
not naturalized to vote. The repeal, Mitbout 
retrospective operat on, of al( acts of Congress 
mafeing urants of land to unnaturalized for- 
eigners, an(.l allowing them to vote in tne ter- 
ritorie<. 

8. Resistance to the aggtessive policy and 
corupting tendenci.s ot the Koman Catholic 
Church in our couitiy by the advancement lo 
all polit'cal stations— executive, legi.-lat.ve, 
judicial, or dipio;uatic— of those only who do 
not hold civil iiile. lance, directly or iiidirectly, 
to any foreign power, whether oivil or ecclesi- 
astical, and whi are Americans I. y birth, edu- 
cation, iiid training — thus fultillingthe maxim, 
" Americans only shall govern America." 

Mr. Etheridge. in 1856, was still a 
member of the Know-Nothing party, 
and took t]ie stump in this Statf lor the 
nominees and platform of tlie Pliiladel- 
phia Convention. The following are a 
portion of the resolutions constituting 
the platform of 1856: 

31. American- must rule America, and to th''s 
end. native-born citiz n-. shou'd be .-tie -ted for 
all Sta e, Fed-r.d. and munic pal oilices or 
government employment, in preference to all 
others. 

sen. An eniorcemr nt of the pr nciple that no 
State or TerritO'v ought t> admit others than 
citizens ot the Unted States to the rigiic of 
suffrnge, or 01 holding political office. 

9th. A chanae in the luws of n^n.uralizTti'^n, 
muking a continued residence of twenty-one 
years, of ali not hoieinbelore provideil lor, an 
indi-pensable requisite for citizenship here- 
after. 

Tlius we have proven from the records 
that Mr. Etheridge was opposed to col- 
ored people, whether they were soldiers 
in our revolutionary war,or in the war of 
1812, or in the recent rebeliion, as well 
as their wives and children, enjoying 
the benefits of our national dbtnaiir. 
Yes, not only those were to be excluded 
from V.oraesteads in our national terri- 
tory, which they may have pored out 



14 



their heart's blood to acquire, 
but rJso all foreigners who niisfht 
eraiorrate to our country after 1856, 
thoutrh they should become Fed- 
eral soldiers in 1862, and li^ht in the 
sacred cause of preservino^ the Union 
and our constitutional liberty. He v^as 
in favor of not fjrantine: torei^ners the 
rights of citizenship till they remained 
here loj'al residents for tvvent)'-one 
years, and he opposed their voting or 
iioldingollice till they were citizens; 
nor um.er any circumstances was he 
•willing that future immigrants should 
enjo}^ the benctlts of the Homestead 
bill. A few days after Mr. Etheridge 
introduced his resolution excluding all 
future foreigners from enjoying the 
benfits of the Homestead bill, in reply 
to Mr. Cox from Ohio, and aKepresen- 
tative from Pennsylvania, said if the 
gentlemen wished to exclude all future 
foreigners from the benefits of the 
Homstead bill, why not vote for my re- 
solution, which accomplislies the ob- 
iect? (See pages 111 to 115. App. Con. 
'Globe. 2d Sess. 36th Cong., 1861. Also, 
see, for the above facts, Mc. C. P. B. pp. 
55 and 56.) 

His hostility to foreigners, even to 
the present day, is proven by the con- 
temptuous manner in which he speaks 
of them in the following letter to Pres- 
ident Johnson, published in the St. 
Louis Kepublican, July 19, 1865: 

I W.I-; ar. esteil at my home on last Friday, hy 
a det.'ichmer.t of <arm<"d soldier-;. Tliey -were 
comniaiided and directed Ijy lour or five wliite 
men, w ho arie>ted mc .as JMr Adderrig, from 
which. I i IxT, they claim a lager beer nation 
ality. 1 deem ii my (Uitj^ to report that ynur 
old (rends of the sfcesh pcrsiia^ioa srill per- 
sist in thd teasor.ahtj pi actice of calling the 
personnel of such evperlitious "d— d Mutoh and 
nigger--." You wdl doubtless be relieved to 
hear that the expedition was a success. 

ethridge's union record. 
It is true that Mr. Etheridge, in a 
speech at the court house in the city ot 
Kashville, about the 2d of March. 1862, 
denounced in the most violent and ma- 
levolent manner all soldiers and citizens 
who were engaged in the then existing 
rebellion ; and further said that there 
was no punishment known to the laws 
they should not receive. (See Nash- 
ville Banner of this date.) 

Again. I know, in a speech delivered 
by him in the Congress of the United 
States in 1861, he denounced the rebel- 
lion as the most unwarrantable and un- 
justifiable in tlie world's history, stating 
ill said speech "that he intended to 
leave those halls and return home, and 
vnth a itvjord in one hand and a torch in 
the other, he intended to confront re- 
bellion, and as long as the stars and 
stripes waved over any portion of his 
State he would never bow tiie knee to 
disunion.'' [See i)ages 114 and 115, App. 
to Cong. Globe, 36tii Cong., 2d Sess.] 

Here'we have Don Quixote Etheridge, 
De La Jtancha, threatening with sword 
and turcli the utter extermination of 
the poor rebels — slaughtering all day, 
and b\" torcli light all night. Perhaps 
he intended to slay with one 1 and and 
burn v/ith the other. O, for another 
Cervai\tes to write and commit to im- 
mort.ality tlie renowned achievements 
of this redoubtable knight. Well, he 
did return home; but upon the first 
roar of the Lion of the forests he 



gracefully yielded the championship of 
carnage-covered fields to the "gallant 
boys in blue," and ensconced himself in 
the clerkship of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, and not one scalp of all the 
rebels did lie remain to capture, 
etheridge's record of treason. 

On tlie 18th of February, 1861. Mr. 
Stanton, of Ohio, introduced a bill giv- 
ing to the President the power to call 
out the militia of the several States, a.* 
well as employ the military and naval 
forces ot the United States, to suppress 
the insurrection which had already 
commenced. Mr. Etheridge voted first 
to reject the bill; secondly, to lay it on. 
the table: and thirdly, to postpone it. 
(See McPherson's His, of E., pages 77 
and 78.) 

Again, on the 20th of February, 18G1, 
wdien the naval appropriation bill for 
the construction of a certain class of 
screw sloops, with an amendment which 
had been adopted by the Senate in Com- 
mittee of the Whole, and which was 
urged as indispensable to suppress the 
rebellion, came up for final action in the 
House of Representatives, it passed — 
yeas 114 — all the friends of the Union, 
voting for it ; nays 38— Etheridge voting 
against it. 

Again, a bill was introduced by Mr. 
Bingham, of Ohio, January 3d, 1860, 
from the Committee on the Judiciary, 
for the employment of the mlllria and 
the land and naval forces to provide for 
the collection of duties in the rebel ports, 
and upon a motion on the 2d of March, 
to suspend the rule and take up the bill, 
as immediate action in relation to it 
was indispensable to the government, 
Mr. Etheridge voted in a vast minority 
asrainst the bill, thus defeating the gov- 
ernment. (See McP. Hist, of R., pp. 77, 
78-88.) 

Again, immediately after his de- 
feat for the Clerkship in the House of 
Representatives, in 1863, he disclosed 
the true animus of the man. lie then 
abandoned the Republican party, who 
were successfully conducting the war, 
denounced it with President Lincoln, 
Mr. Seward, Andrew Johnson and all 
tlie other friends of the administration, 
in the most unmeasured terms of re- 
proach and contempt— joined the Mc- 
Clellan-Copperhead party, who de- 
clared in their national platform that 
the war was a failure and that the lie- 
publican administration and party had 
usurped and exercised the most tyran- 
nical power, subversive of the constitu- 
tion and the laws of the land, and that 
peace with the rebels should be imme- 
diately concluded. Etheridge not only 
belonged to this party, which contained 
all the elements of opposition to the im- 
mediate supi)ression of the rebellion, 
but from a letter written by him, pend- 
ing his election to the Clerkship, to Mr, 
Voorhees. of Indiana, then President of 
a secret society called the Golden Circle, 
he identifies himself with this organ- 
ized and armed rebel association, which 
was proven to be in close alliance with 
the Confederate rebels in Canada, to lib- 
erate rebel prisoners of war and over- 
throw the government. 

Again, his disloyalty to his govern- 
ment is further proved by his incendia- 
ry speeches made at Dresden and Treu- 



15 



ton, ^ in this State, in 1865, in which 
spef^hes cand resolutions adopted upon 
said occasion he bohlly declared that the 
Eiuancipation Proclamation of Presi- 
dent Lincoln and the laws of this State 
emancipatinof the slaves were unconsti- 
tutional and void, and should not be 
observed ! as well as that the State Gov- 
ernment then existing was an usurpa- 
tion, and ail laws passed by it a nullity. 
Gen. Thomas said, in relation to the 
trial of ilie said Etherido^e upon charges 
of incendiary and treasonable conduct 
upon the above occasion, "that althoujyh 
the court has failed to do justice (in his 
acquittal), tlie evidence and findings 
clearly establish the guilt of the accus- 
ed. (See proceedings of the court mar- 
tial and General Thomas' letter in the 
Daily Press and Times of May 2Stb, 
1867.) 

Again, his disloyalty is further 
proved from his present incendiary and 
revolutionary speeches, as the candidate 
for the Guijernatorial chair of this 
State, and from his accepting the nomi- 
nation from those — nine-tenths of whom 
constitute a party whom, five years 
ago, he denounced as traitors to the 
government, and wliom then he wished 
to 'exterminate with the sword and 
torch. 

ETHERIDGE OX REBEL, RENEGADES. 

Mr. Etheridge denounces Gov. Brown- 
low, Gen. Stokes, myself, with almost 
every other Union gentleman ot this 
State, as rebel renegades. Thank you, 
Jew, for this word. Kenegade, derived 
either from the French or Latin, means 
literally one who rejects or renounces 
a particular faith. Therefore a rebel 
renegade is one who renounces and re- 
jects treason and traitors. Hence our 
antipathy to you, Mr. Etheridge. Be- 
sides we prefer to be a rebel renegade 
to a Union renegade. Saul ot Tarsus, 
from his education, associations and 
blind prejudice persecuted his Savior 
and liis disciples; but overwhelmed by 
the divine lightof truth and his honest 
convictions, confessed his error and 
sacriftced his life for his God and his 
disciples. St. Peter, intimidated by an 
armed mob, temporarilj^ denied his 
beloved Savior; but returning in true 
allegiance and love, suffered mart3'rdoni 
for hini. Judas Iscariot, who was the 
recipient of the confidence and love of 
■ his Savior, betraye*! him to be crucified 
to his foes for thirty pieces of silver 
and never repented. Who would not 
prefer to be a Saul or a St. Peter to 
Judas Iscariot? Judas did receive his 
reward of treason; but, Mr. Etiieridge, 
you will not be elected to the Guberna- 
torial chair of this State, nor ever afjain 
hold a position of ofhcial respectability 
and honor. 

Let us turn away from the further 
contemplation of tiiis repulsive picture, 
to one refulgent with the liglit of truth, 
charity, honesty and patriotism. We 
allude to 

GOVERXOR BROWXLOW 

As a Christian, who has been more un- 
wavering in his fidelity, or pructiced in 
a more exemplary manner, its manj^ 
virtues and graces? Was there ever a 
truer friend or a more obliging and kind 
neighbor, or a more forgiving enemy? 
What drop ofiiinocent blood ever spotted 



his name or encrimsoned his conscience ? 
What act of violenco or persecution ever 
blurred liis reputation? We defy pre- 
judice, passion or malevolence to desig- 
nate one. I know he writes and speaks 
sometimes bitterlj% but never acts only 
in mercy and kindness. In the riots of 
Memphis and Johnsonville, in the assas- 
sinations of his political friends in Obion 
and Henry counties, as well as in other 
portions of this State, we challenge his 
opponents to instance one act of his, 
cliaracteiized by tyranny, barbarity or 
malevolence. He has reprieved more 
convicts than any other Governor of 
this State, save, perhaps, Andrew John- 
son. He has solicited from • the Presi- 
dent the pardon of more rebels than the 
Governor of any other State. 

In his political creed and associations 
he was an Old Line Whig; and to its 
national principles of paramount alle- 
giance to the Union and constitution he 
gave an immaculate devotion. If he 
contended with zeal and persistence 
for the peculiar institutions of his na- 
tive South, he but reflected then the 
opinions and sentiments of every Chris- 
tian church in t'le South, the editors of 
every newspaper, and the legislators, 
judges and leading statesmen of every 
Southern State. Although he loved the 
institutions and the people of the South 
with an ai-dent afiection, yet he loved 
his whole country more. His escutcli- 
eon as a patriot is untarnished — lUs 
fidelity to his countr^^ its constitution 
and laws, is without a pause or a blem- 
ish. 

In the political administration of the 
State as its Governor, he presents the 
same unique picture of honesty, energy 
and fidelity. By the aid and assistance 
of his Kepublican Legislature and 
friends, against tlie bitter aspersions of 
their opponents, he has restored the 
State of Tennessee to its constitutional 
relations with tlie Federal Government; 
he has re-established the judiciary, and 
with it, as mucli as possible, law" fiftd 
order, and the vast material interests of 
thecountrj-; by liberal State aid he 
saved our vast railroad system from ut- 
ter bankruptcy ; he saved, by judicious 
legislation, the State credit; he cheer- 
fully co-operated with the Federal Gov- 
ernment in the emancipation of the 
colored race, and by wise and timely 
legislation established his civil and po- 
litical riglits in this State, upon an en- 
during basis. 

With regard to the financial economy 
of his administration, we refer to tlie 
unanswerable array of facts contained 
in his own recent address to the people 
of this State, the letters of Gen. Thomas, 
his Private Secretary, and the very able 
and conclusive speech of the Secretary 
of State, the Hon. A. J. Fletcher, deliv- 
ered at Cleveland, East Tennessee, all of 
which have recently been published in 
the Press and Times of this city. 

Fellow citizens, a few words addition- 
al and I will conclude. 

THE WAR is over. 

The hurtling storm of the rebellion is 
over, and the murmuring winds that fol- 
low are only by the ligiitning warm. 
O, never again may civil war like a 
"burning comet, lire our heavens, and 



16 



shake from its horricl hair pestilence 
and death !" O, never ao:ain may dis- 
tracted and di:«severed States, in dread 
disorder rushinjr, be impelled so far 
Irom our F(=deral system, or lose the 
cheerino: and invigorating heat of their 
solar orb! 

Were it not for memories so dear, re- 
trospections so accnrsed. recollections 
that sadden and still sicken the feeling 
heart, we might almost bless the con- 
vulsion that gave the rebellion birth; 
for our beloved country, like a fortress, 
proud and invulnerable, has emerged 
above the billow and tlie surge, and the 
genius of American Constitutional Lib- 
erty, rekindling her torch at the urn of 
an universal hiiinanity, has replumed 
her wings for her loftiest flight. In the 
ubiquity of her benevolence she now 
embraces the child of every race, the 
votary of every creed, and the citizen 
of every clime. 

Gentlemen, we do not intend to-night 
to re-open wounds which we wish 
cicatrized forever; rather we would in- 
vite you to a banquet of fraternal for- 
giveness and love. O. yes, let us gather 
vip our prejudices, passions and animos- 
ities, and consume them together upon 
the altar of our common country. Are 
not individual concessions and sacrifi- 
ces national strength ? and on this earth 
is there a holier altar than one's own 
country ? Man is strong only by union, 
and happy only by peace. But there 
can be no Union and peace, without 
law, liberty and traternity. It is not 
only honoi--i1)le, but it is God-like to 
govern in kindness, to erect the fabric 
of government upon tlie everlasting 
basis of justice and affection. A kind 
Providence had gradually led our be- 
loved country to a dizzy height of na- 
tiosial prosperity and greatness, and we 
had become the wonder and admiration 
of the nations of the earth. But 
to advance farther we could 
not, without a radical revolution. 
There was a loathsome cancer that 
had fastened itself upon the very 
vitals of tlie re|)ul^lic, poisoning and 
cankering its mighty heart, which must 
be removed — and that was human 
slavery. But how ctnild this institution, 
so revolting to justice and humanity, be 
eradicated? Could tlie mild and per- 
suasive precepts of a Christian philan- 
thropy, or the logical deductions of a 
rational philoso|>liy achieve it? Alas! 
our holy religion, wliich should rob the 
world of its sigiis and sorrows — unite, 
not sepiirate — reconcile, not irritate — 
heal, not wound — throughout the North 
and the South, had toimed adulterous 
connections with the political, moral 
and pltilosophic dogmas and creeds of 
the day. " i)o!lutiiig the purity of 
heaven "with the abominations of earth, 
andhjinging the tatters of a hypocriti- 
cal politieai piety upon tlie cross of an 
insulted Savior." Therctore, Cliristian 



philanthropy, which had been thus sub- 
sidized and subordinated, conldt not 
burst the manacles of the slave. 

Could the majiistic march of the intel- 
lect, the progress of the immortal ideas 
of advanced civilization, based upon 
the eternal principles of liberty and hu- 
manity, peacefully overthrow this hor- 
rible institution? These, aided by 
Christianity, had obliterated slavery 
from the map of Europe— had extin- 
guished it in the British isles of the 
ocean — had driven it from Mexico. Cen- 
tral and South America, except Brazil, 
and all the North American States, save 
fourteen. In these fourteen Southera 
States slavery seemed throned on the 
granite of ages. Alas! how impotent 
these mild instrumentalities were to 
batter down the formidable bulwarks 
with which a vitiated religion and phil- 
osophy — with which avarice, wealth 
and the love of domination and ease- 
had entrenched and fortilled it. Be- 
side, slavers'^ in these States had the os- 
tensible sanction and protection of the 
Federal Government. 

But fall this institution must. I care 
not how fortified by wisdom, wealth or 
power — how seemingly throned ou 
eternity. For the Almighty is the 
mighy pastor of the generations of 
men, and from man's first disobedience 
and the loss of Eden, he has been con- 
ducting the nations of the earth, step by 
step, onward and upward to a more ex- 
alted sphere of human beatitude and 
perfectibilit3^ He ruleth in the king- 
dome of the world as he does in the 
heavens, and he has said '"thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself; thou 
shalt do unto others a£ you would have 
others do unto you." Here human 
slavery was thy doom, and not the 
wealth of a^rorld's commerce, nor the 
successful achievements of all this earth's 
wisdom or heroism could have secured, 
the permanency of your establishment. 
Thus, when th at onuii fie spiri tot progress 
which had transformed societies and 
governments, "written all the books — 
invented all arts, discovered all worlds 
and founded all civilizations," could not 
by its peaceful agencies subvert the 
institution of slavery in its strongest 
hold in America,, it did witU a Titan's 
grasp seize the volcanic thunder-bolts 
of Revolution and flinder it to atoms. 

Thus gentlemen, we have been uncon- 
ciously the good and evil instrumentali- 
ty to work out in carnage and desolation 
our political, social and moral redemp- 
tion — to establish upon a more endur- 
ing basis the eternal principles of rec- 
titude, of humanity and fraternity. Let 
us now forgive and be forgiven — let us 
return to our altar of American consti- 
tutional liberty, with more fervid devo- 
tion, with a patriotism which no temp- 
tations of earth can ever again seduce or 
alienate. Let us remember the past as 
Signs sunt bv Goil, to marx tl'e w.ll ol' Heaveu, 
SipDS which "bid nations weep, an J be lo .-given. 



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